Speaking Of: Brookside Research Podcast #10 – Picking a Winner in the Post-Power Age
Welcome to the 10th episode of the Brookside Research podcast!
Electricity, strictly speaking, has never been plentiful. Power shortages date back to the late 19th century, when electrons were first explained by a bookseller’s son named J.J. Thompson. Thompson elegantly proved that the migration of whisp-light “corpuscles,” which held a faint electrical charge, was responsible for everything from cathode rays to the current that powered car headlamps. Power shortages remain stubbornly common to this day, in both the rich and poor world: Hawaii, California, Texas, Kenya, central Georgia, and western Australia, among many places, regularly ration power.
Electrical shortages expected to worsen
Power-thirsty data centers, low-cost climate control equipment, and mobile devices will strain the disconnect between available electricity and demand. Who will have access to electricity – and who will not – is hidden inside complex integrated resource plans, or IRPs, that utilities file with regulators.
Such resource plans are not standardized documents. Each utility reports its future supply in its own way. Time and expertise is required.
Some utilities stay with their announced plans. Some don’t.
Even the smallest details can have dramatic effects:
Rare bees just forced Facebook to cancel a large data center.
Some utility disclosures can reveal real intent and points of entry for investors.
This Photovoltaic Hosting Capacity Map from New England utility Central Maine Power indicates the green sections of the grid where demand for power is brisk.
Investors and solar developers are developing properties near such sections:
Returns will be lucrative.
Hosted by: Alec Foege, Director and Founding Member of Brookside Research and Jonathan Blum, Managing Editor of News and AI.
Electrical shortages will become more common going forward.
